I write, therefore I am

Totally not pertinent to this blog post, but I definitely felt y’all should know.

Anyway, this past Friday night I went out with a couple of lovely new friends to celebrate said upcoming birthday.

After work, I raced home to hurry up and get ready for the night’s festivities and while I was applying the war paint and twisting my hair into submission, I found myself wondering, as I often do, why bother?

As I mentioned, these were relatively new friends that I was out with and as we got to talking, my friend Collyn told me that she has me pegged all wrong. She thought that I was always a glamour girl – always with the hair and makeup done, cute outfit and high heels to complete the package.

That couldn’t be further from the truth. Most days you can find me dressed pretty casually, typically with my hair in a ponytail, or if I am feeling particularly enthusiastic that day, you may get a sock bun out of me. I definitely don’t bother putting my contacts in most days, and hardly ever trot out the makeup.

The exception of course, is if I am going out for a special occasion. Or, if it’s the first few days at a new job. Or for job interviews.

I don’t know why. Is it because I just don’t care? Or maybe I am not that vain?

I know women who don’t leave their bedroom without full makeup. A very good friend of ours walks around her house fully done up and with her heels on. This always amuses me. But it must make her feel good and it’s not hurting anyone, so who cares.

So on Friday, I decided to do a little experiment. I took a picture of myself “before” and one “after.”

I kind of think I look better in the before. Maybe because I am not so great at doing my own hair and makeup. Maybe because I should smile. What do you think? Before or after?

And what about you? Are you a makeup every day kind of girl? And if you’re a guy, how do you honestly prefer to see a girl? Would love your thoughts.

Happy Tuesday. And by the way, this is what I look like as I am writing this. And yes, that does count as a smile.

Like this:

Wow, what a weekend. This was one of the better ones in a while. UPDATE: I started this post last week, to describe the weekend of 7/20 – 7/22. Through a combination of being busy and lazy, I am just now getting around to finishing it.

It started Friday night at Gatherings Kitchen. But I will do a separate post on that later.

On Saturday, Todd and I drove out to his parents’ house in Concord. His mother and I had to go to a baby shower in Jefferson. After the shower we came back to their house, lounged around being lazy and had a light dinner. We were early to bed and feeling more relaxed than we had in a while.

The next morning we went to the club (Quail Hollow Country Club) for breakfast. Then we changed and went back to the club to enjoy the pool. (Can I just take a quick aside to say how much I am enjoying typing “the club” because we are so not those people.)

This was the highlight of my weekend.

You often hear people offering this pearl of wisdom to people who are stressed: “Go to your happy place”

Well, let me describe to you my happy place.

To me, there is nothing like floating on my back in a pool. I ease my way in and transition to the float. I lay my head back so that just my ear are underwater. I feel the sun warm and comforting on my face. My limbs are loose, almost detached. And with my ears underwater, all the noise disappears. There are no children crying, no teenagers laughing, no ladies gossiping.

There is only this. The sound of my own breath. The warmth of the sun. The looseness of my limbs. The feeling of complete and utter relaxation.

This is truly my happy place. I just need to remind myself to “go there” when someone says something stupid on Twitter or cuts me off in traffic.